


Fury Brand

by sanctum_c



Series: Aerith Month 2018 [8]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Fighting, Gen, Gongaga, Limit Break(s) (Final Fantasy), Missing Scene, Monsters, No Dialogue, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27607039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Aerith, Tifa and Cloud are driven into a corner by a pack of Touch-Mes.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough & Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough & Tifa Lockhart, Tifa Lockhart & Cloud Strife
Series: Aerith Month 2018 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009521
Kudos: 4





	Fury Brand

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'Favorite Limit Break'

The fight was gruelling. Aeris, Tifa and Cloud fought back to back as hordes of Touch-Mes swarmed them. Not the most deadly of enemies, but each monster represented a unique and troublesome risk. Transmuting into frog-form was a weird experience at the best of times but otherwise harmless. Right now it would be hard to distinguish an enemy frog from a transformed companion. Gongaga was a pain; who lived here with this many creatures that could warp someone’s shape with one touch? Aeris growled as she swiped at the Touch-Me flying towards her.

Frogs were okay – normally. And none of this was the Touch-Me's fault; Aeris, Cloud and Tifa didn’t have to take this path through the jungle, didn’t have to head for the small lake and disrupt the whole mass of them. The creatures lived out their lives without disturbance for the most part. But if someone did disturb them- She blinked and held her staff up at eye level; the Touch-Me rebounded off of it and fell to the ground. Stunned or dead? Stunning was preferable, but the things might wake up and that was a new level of complication.

Her arms burned with the effort of movement, her back stiff. Her offensive spells were long since exhausted and it was long minutes since any of them had said more than two words to each other. How much longer could they carry on? All it would take was one missed attack, one touch of clammy skin- And the misjudged point when one of them would mistake the green creature right beside them for an opponent. Might be best to suggest if caught they leap into the mass and hope for the best. Becoming a frog was certainly more appealing than death.

Aeris swiped her staff in an arc, knocking a whole pack of Touch-Mes into the long grass. How smart were they? Did they have the capacity to try for a back attack or were they swarming? If only they had an opening they might be able to get out of here and leave the creatures to their own devices. No such luck here. Deep throb of pain in her head. The air was too muggy, and every movement was making her hotter. Her clothes soaked in sweat, the staff slick beneath her palms. Her shoulders were stiff, her mouth parched. All she wanted to do was scream and kill everything in a wide vicinity. But no magic; no way to rain down magical fire or ice. No way to summon anything.

She clutched her staff, willing one of the spells to trigger, the incantations frustrating in their familiarity and absence from her mind. The curse of materia learning; no way to complete the invocations without it. But something else stirred. A trickle of sensation seeping up out of the ground. Similar to when the flowers would bloom in the garden and at the church. Energy from the Planet. Enough to keep her going? No. The energy did not refresh her, it simply built, rising up through her in a wave. The sounds of the fight faded, the heat blissfully relented and- A spell. There was a spell in her mind; a complex chain of words and meanings. No, it was like a chemical formula, a mathematical equation. No, it was something akin to the shifting fragments of language she glimpsed on a computer screen once. No. Magic.

But not the same as materia magic. There was a sense of possession to this, whatever it was, the invocation clear and somehow so obvious now. What it would do was not clear, but at this juncture it was hard to care. Aeris murmured the invocation, the language as unfamiliar as all spells, but somehow she formed a connection between Cetran and Standard. Fury Brand.

Power surged from her hands; she directed it towards the mass of Touch-Mes, but instead it curled back, flowing around her and enveloped her companions and it seemed possible she had doomed them both. Aeris risked everything and reached out trying to take back her actions- Cloud and Tifa brightened. Tifa’s posture improved and she smiled. A split-second later she darted forward, moving almost faster than Aeris could see. She chained together a litany of martial arts moves; flipping, whirling, chopping, kicking, punching. Touch-Mes flew in all directions, flung back into the jungle. Not one landed a strike on Tifa.

Cloud remained stationary, but crouched lower, his sword wreathed in ragged blue fire. He swung in a wide arc – none of the Touch-Mes close enough to hit, but it did not matter. An arc of blue blasted out, chopping through flora and fauna indiscriminately. A gap in the Touch-Mes; an escape.

Aeris called Tifa back and the three of them raced into the jungle. Later they would ask what she did and Aeris would reply she was not sure. But that spell still remained in her mind. Not something to do on a whim – she was more exhausted now than before, but when needed, it would be tremendously useful.


End file.
